Robot 6

Mars on the mind: Two new comic series about the red planet

This week we got news over the transom of two new comic series set on the red planet of Mars. One is a sequel to a series from a year or so back, and the other is a webcomics collection.

The Martian Confederacy: From Mars, With Lovefollows up on the 2008 first volume by Jason McNamara and Paige Braddock, and this new volume takes the rogues on what the writer describes as “a romantic comedy involving child slave labor” (that’s a joke). These two cosmic confederates get news of child kidnappings to supply an underground workforce, and they’re on the hunt for the secret and the salvation of these children — while trying to keep things professional between each other. Robot 6 ran a preview of the book last fall, and the writer & artist did a back-and-forth with us back in January.

The sci-fi webcomic Free Marsis getting a print collection this week, in time for a debut at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. Free Mars is set in the far-flung 24th century and features a garage band that gets caught up in a grass roots revolution on Mars. Described by the authors as a “space rock opera,” Free Mars mixes sci-fi with six strings and has some great art to boot. This slimline compilation collects the first two chapters of this online story, as well as extras including a foreword by cosmic comics vet Dan Abnett.